In a Reverse Mentorship, Seeing Age Though a New Lens

A few months ago, Phyllis Korkki, an assignment editor at The New York Times who sits a few cubicles away, approached me with a question that gave me pause. “Will you mentor me?” she asked.

I gave her what I imagine was a blank stare, and responded, “Wait, what?”

Phyllis is a longtime Times employee, an accomplished journalist and an author. So the fact that she was approaching me for mentorship was unexpected.

She wanted to do what she was calling a reverse mentorship. She wanted to challenge herself and learn something new, something outside her comfort zone, she said. She wanted to learn how to use Snapchat.

Snapchat is a popular social mobile app that features, among other things, stories that live for just a day. And she came to me because a large part of my role has been guiding editorial strategy in the brave new world of stories that disappear in 24 hours.

So of course I was happy to meet with Phyllis one on one.

But a mentorship? I was honored, albeit a bit perplexed.

It turned out, though, that we both benefited in ways that surprised me.

When I started working here, just after college, a veteran journalist in the office whom I greatly admire said to me, “Think of your age as an advantage.” He was speaking to a 22-year-old, but I quickly saw that Phyllis was taking the same advice to heart.

Her years of experience were her advantage. She approached it with the mind of an investigative journalist.

For my part as a mentor, I carefully heeded what my parents always say when I’m explaining a piece of technology: “Slow down!”

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Phyllis Korkki and Talya Minsberg using a Snapchat filter in the New York Times offices.

But more than that, I realized our mentorship provided me with something unexpected: a chance to take what amounts to a leadership position I had not seen coming.

As a relatively young professional, I was usually the one taking advice, not doling it out. The role reversal was jarring.

The fact is, Snapchat can be hard for many people to grasp. Many shun the app when they discover the user interface is not intuitive. But Phyllis was dedicated. She worked to master the app, becoming fluent in Snapchat geofilters and emoji, even if there was sometimes a thumb over the camera.

While she was a little embarrassed by minor flubs (I know this because she would repeat “I’m so embarrassed!”), she studiously took notes and was ready to improve.

I was taking notes too. Was I hitting the right balance of encouragement and constructive criticism? Was Phyllis getting what she wanted out of the mentorship?

Eventually, Phyllis took to the official New York Times Snapchat account to broadcast three stories. And three times I waited with bated breath to watch those stories, feeling like a teacher in the back of a classroom waiting for a student to give a big presentation. Each time, she got better — and I was eager to tell her about it in person.

When I gave Phyllis a glowing review, she kept saying, “Really? You like it?” I think we both recognized the moment as a milestone in the reverse mentorship. We both felt success.

When I joined The Times five years ago, the role I currently hold with the responsibilities I have didn’t exist — and neither did Snapchat stories. I was interested personally in Snapchat and suggested that The Times should be experimenting there, and after a bit of plotting and persuading, someone said to go for it. Now leading our presence on Snapchat is a major part of my job here.

There’s an important parallel with Phyllis. She, too, saw something different, something she thought was worth experimenting with, and she went for it.